Planets morning sky

Pam Eastlick Pacific Daily News USA TODAY NETWORK Published 9:39 PM EST Dec 12, 2018 Greetings everyone! This is your last week to easily see Saturn in the early evening sky so have a look close to the western horizon around 7 p.m. any night this week. Mars is still there, high about the southwestern horizon, but they’re our only two visible planets. So where are the other three? I suggest you plan on setting your alarm a little early this Friday because there are a whole lot of interesting things going on in the morning sky before the sun comes up. Since we’re losing so much morning daylight, you don’t have to get up very early at all. And just so you know, our first shortest day of the year happens this Thursday. More: Learn about the Magic Half Hour More: Learn how to measure the sky So, set your alarm for 5:30 a.m. on Friday, go outside and face east where the sun will rise. You’ll see the brightest star you ever saw high above the eastern … [Read more...] about Look up at early dawn sky: Starry

PUBLISHED: 13:39 04 December 2018 | UPDATED: 13:45 04 December 2018 The crescent Moon and Venus appeared in the East on the morning of December 4. Photo: Mark Thompson Mark Thompson The spectacle made the two objects seem to be close despite the fact that they are millions of kilometres apart. The crescent Moon and Venus appeared in the East on the morning of December 4. Photo: Mark ThompsonOn the morning on December 4, the crescent Moon and Venus rose before the sun in the east treating early risers to a spectacle in the sky.Astronomer Mark Thompson, from south Norfolk, captured a stunning image of the occasion and explained what was causing the bright illumination of both objects.He said: “We see both the Moon and Venus because they reflect sunlight. A crescent moon is often seen and often, the dark portion of the Moon remains invisible to us.“On occasions however, sunlight that is reflected off the Earth can gently illuminate the dark portion of the Moon. We call … [Read more...] about Norfolk astronomer captures the Moon and Venus illuminated in early morning sky

Pam Eastlick For Pacific Daily News USA TODAY NETWORK Published 12:18 AM EDT Oct 18, 2018 Venus has disappeared from our early evening skies and she will soon be followed by Jupiter. Jupiter is quite close to the western horizon at one hour after sunset and sunset is occurring earlier. The sun will set at close to 6 p.m. all week. If you watch one of our beautiful sunsets, you may be able to spot Mercury below Jupiter and of course, Saturn and Mars are also still up there. There will be a waxing moon in our sky all week and it will be quite close to Mars on Thursday. More: Measuring the sky More: The 'magic half hour' We also have a meteor shower this weekend and ordinarily a waxing moon is bad news for trying to see the streaks of light in the sky. But as I’ve mentioned before, the best time to see a meteor shower is in the early morning sky because that’s when you’re in the driver’s seat of Earth. And there will be no moon in your early morning sky this … [Read more...] about Look for Mars and Saturn in southern sky: Starry

Pam Eastlick For Pacific Daily News USA TODAY NETWORK Published 3:31 p.m. UTC Jul 11, 2018 The sky news this week features four planets and a partial solar eclipse. The solar eclipse is on Friday and we won’t see it from Guam, but the thing I find really interesting about this eclipse is that essentially, nobody will see it. It’s visible only over the extreme southern Pacific Ocean between Australia and Antarctica. They’ll see a partial eclipse in Tasmania and the penguins in Wilkes Land will see it, but that’s about it. Makes you wonder if our planet should be called Ocean and not Earth. More: Finding out what the 'magic half hour' is More: Learn how to measure the Guam's night sky We still have four planets in our early evening sky but Mercury reaches maximum elongation, its farthest distance above the horizon for this trip, on Thursday, July 12. That means that by the end of the month it will disappear from the early evening sky and reappear in … [Read more...] about Starry: Four planets in our sky and a solar eclipse in the south Pacific

Venus is a brilliant beacon, visible low above the west-northwest horizon after sunset. The planet presents an 88 per cent lit gibbous disc when viewed through a telescope at the start of May, reducing to 80 per cent lit by the end of the month. However, it is Jupiter which steals the show as it reaches opposition on May 9. Opposition is the term used to describe when a planet is on the opposite side of the sky to the Sun. In this position, the distance between the planet and Earth is minimised for the current period of observation and the planet appears brighter and, through a telescope, larger than at other times. Being a fast spinning gaseous planet, Jupiter’s equatorial regions bulge outwards. A small telescope will show two main belts encircling the planet’s globe, running parallel either side of Jupiter’s equator. Larger instruments reveal additional belts as well as irregularities in and around them. One of the most impressive atmospheric … [Read more...] about Night sky – May 2018: A shadow showstopper as Jupiter reaches opposition